Prep Softball: Dakota’s bats pound Aquin in 5

FREEPORT — With a lineup as solid as Dakota has from top to bottom, it won’t be a surprise if the softball team run-rules an opponent on a few more occasions this season.

The Indians did it to Aquin by hitting and scoring early and often Tuesday on their way to an 11-1 victory in five innings.

Eight players had at least one hit for Dakota (5-0, 4-0 NUIC-East), which had 14 knocks total and provided plenty of run support for starter Eden Meier.

Lauren Cramer led the Indians’ offense with a 3-for-3, two-RBI day. Lauren Birmingham, Kendalynn Rockey, Jaycee Cleaver and Meier had two hits apiece in the rout, which started with a four-run first inning.

“We know they’re not a bad team, so we had to come out hitting right away,” Rockey said.

Meier helped herself out at the dish by capping the four-run first with a three-run triple to right field. In the circle she gave up three hits, walked two, struck out eight and utilized a sound group of defenders behind her.

“We’ve got a pretty strong defense, too,” Dakota coach Jeff Kinney said. “We’re not just all offense, and she pitched to contact and I thought she pitched real well.”

The amount of offense that Dakota backed Meier with helped alleviate some of the pressure that comes with any pitching outing. The Indians tacked on to their early lead in every inning: . two in the second, three in the third, single runs in the fourth and fifth.

While the Indians’ 14 hits were more than enough, some of their hardest hit balls actually found an Aquin glove in the outfield.

“But we kind of made up for that a couple bloopers that fell in between, so it balanced out,” Kinney said.

On the Aquin side, Keely Scace started and took the loss, with eight of her runs allowed being earned. Unlike Meier, Scace wasn’t a beneficiary of much support. The Bulldogs (2-2, 2-2) had just three hits, but they managed to get seven runners in scoring position — and stranded six of them.

“We’re just going through some stuff that we need to improve upon and it’s mostly mental,” Aquin coach Carl Scace said. “With a young team, especially facing Dakota, you have to be mentally prepared for it.

“Today it might be one of those things where they just got sucked into it mentally and weren’t able to put it on the field.”

The Bulldogs won’t have to wait long to see their conference rival again: Aquin travels to Dakota on Thursday.